A/N: This was a one shot. Don't know when the story would occur, but probably sometime before Season 5.
The beer bottle sat unopened on the small table on his balcony. Leaning back on his patio chair, Booth could still feel the heat from earlier in the day. True it had started to cool down, but it was lingering and would make sleeping an uncomfortable task. It didn't help that the air remained still, with no detectable breeze, making the heat all the more oppressive.
Booth continued to look at the unopened beer, not really sure as to why he hadn't opened it yet, as water continued to pool underneath the bottle. The beer had been enticing a few moments ago when he had come out onto the small balcony, but it was starting to lose its appeal. It wasn't that he was an alcoholic and that alcohol had lost its appeal, but for some reason it had tonight.
"You going to drink that?"
Booth jumped a bit out of his seat and turned around to see Bones standing in the patio doorway. "How did you get in here?"
Bones walked over to the chair on the other side of the table and set down her purse on the table. "Somebody was coming in and recognized me and let me in. And I used the key you gave me."
He adjusted himself in his chair, hoping to get the stickiness off of his back.
"You okay?" Bones voice startled him a bit.
"Yeah, I am okay; just hot and sticky." Awkwardness fell between them for a moment. He didn't know what to say and he just wanted to be alone tonight. "Why did you come over?"
He knew the question was stupid and probably would lead to even more awkwardness; he knew that she sometimes just "dropped by" for the sake of dropping by, but he also knew that something could also be on her mind, leading her to come over to get something off of her chest.
"You going to have that beer?" He looked over and could see that something was bothering her and now wasn't the time to press her with a lot of questions.
"Go ahead."
"You sure? Because I could just go and…"
"Yeah, I'm sure."
"Its your loss. Do you have a bottle opener?"
He took a deep breath. "Why, do you need one?"
"Booth…" She was glaring at him, giving him a look that she wasn't joking around.
He got up from his chair and went to find the bottle opener. He didn't usually need one, unless he was drinking some wine, which wasn't often. After rummaging around in the kitchen drawers, he found one and brought it out to Bones.
"Thank you." Bones said as she grabbed the bottle opener.
"Your welcome."
After quickly opening the bottle, she took a sip of the beer before putting back the bottle on the table. "Something bothering you?"
He could feel his heart quickening. He didn't what Bones to know what was going on; it was personal and wanted to keep it as quiet as possible, but she could read him like an open book, especially when things were bothering him. He looked down at his fingers and started to pick at his cuticles. As much as he liked talking about his personal life to Bones, there were just some things that he wanted to keep quiet.
"Booth?"
He looked up and saw her eyes, clearly full of concern. But he didn't want to divulge, even if it was Bones. He could hear her let out a deep, sharp sigh and he knew that she wanted answers.
"Booth? Are you okay?" Her voice was getting a little sharp.
He wanted to gather the swirling thoughts that were going on in his head at the moment, at least to the point that he could think straight and put together a coherent sentence together. Booth could hear her getting up and moving her chair so that she could be closer to him.
Booth knew that he had to tell her sooner or later and he knew that the sooner that he told her what was going on the better it would be for the two of them. And the less questioning that he would get from her.
Her hands wrapped themselves around his left hand; he could feel the gentleness and softness in them. Despite how she portrayed herself as being cold and aloof at times, she was a genuine caring person and as much as she wanted to distance herself from the cases they worked on, he knew how they sometimes got to her, how they affected her thinking. Even though she worked primarily in the black and white, there were times in which she worked in the gray areas
Booth looked up a little bit and saw his discarded cell on the table.
"Booth?" Her voice was soothing and gentle this time.
He took a deep breath, knowing she would eventually prod it out of him. "My dad called." Booth looked up into her eyes and could see the pain and concern that was etched in her eyes.
"What was it this time?" Bones knew the history between the two of them and knew what the phone call was about.
He looked up and gave her "the look". She knew what that meant.
"So what did he want the money for this time?"
He let out a sharp sigh. "What do you think?" Booth despised the man and wanted nothing to do with him as much as possible.
Bones clearly didn't want to set him off. "And what if your dad was in serious trouble, what would you do then? He's reaching out, Booth; he clearly needs your help."
"Yeah, help to get him drunk."
Bones pursed her lips, clearly disgusted by his comment. "Surely you don't mean that, Booth; he loves you and needs your help."
He got up from his chair, pacing back and forth on the patio. "If he loved us, then he wouldn't have been an abusive drunk and wouldn't have been kicked out of the house."
"Booth…"
"What if your father was like that? Would you want him in your life?" Booth was starting to seethe inside; he could feel the tension building and had the inclination to punch something to release the tension. It was too much to bear at the moment.
"No, but…"
"But what, Bones?"
His breathing was becoming ragged and shorter by the minute; the steps were becoming more agitated as the seconds passed by. He wanted to kill his father; wanted him to pay for how he treated his mom, his brother, himself, everybody that cared about him. He understood the nightmares that his dad must have had after Vietnam; Booth had had them himself and had sometimes woken up screaming completely drenched in his sweat, not sure what had just happened. He looked at Bones; she was getting concerned, as she knew that the outcome was not going to be pretty.
"Sit down, Booth." Her eyes looked comforting and inviting, as though she understood or wanted to understand.
"Why should I sit down? I am perfectly fine standing." He knew he wasn't fine and Bones knew it as well, but he could be a stubborn SOB at times and when agitated, he was even more so.
She let out a sharp sigh. "Just sit down and let me talk."
He crossed his arms across his chest, still standing; he was going to be defiant no matter what she said to him.
"Booth…" She gave him the glare; the glare that indicated that she was the one in charge at the moment.
It took him a few minutes for him to realize that she was the only one acting like the adult in the situation and that he was acting like a petulant child who didn't get what he wanted and was going to do everything to get what he wanted. Reluctantly, he sat down back on the chair.
She took a deep breath before continuing. "What I was going to say was that you may later regret despising your dad and not having a relationship with him."
Booth looked cautiously up at her, not sure if he heard her right. "What do you mean by regretting?"
"I mean that you may regret that, when your father passes away, you never sought to repair your relationship with him and he may be reaching out to do that. I mean you have a relationship with Jared and he screwed up; doesn't mean that you love him any less. I understand why you despise your dad; I get it, but I have seen far too often where a parent passes and the child regrets that they didn't take any steps to repair that relationship."
"Its different."
"How is it different?"
He shrugged. "He was a jerk who really didn't care for his family. And look at your dad, he wasn't exactly a saint either." Booth knew he had touched a nerve with that statement, but at this point he really didn't care what she thought.
"I realize that; doesn't mean that I don't love him any less."
"At least your father wasn't abusive towards you."
Booth looked up and could see that Bones was shocked by his statement, as she was deep in thought, trying to make sense of what to say next, so as not to offend him; he knew he had hit a nerve with her.
He could see that she was angry and when Bones got angry, she got pissed. "Sorry for that; it was uncalled for."
They were quiet for a moment, allowing for the traffic noise to drift in and out. As much as he had tried to deal with what his father had done, Booth knew he hadn't really dealt with the repercussions of the abuse; he had put it aside and had allowed his anger towards his father fester over the years, not really talking or acknowledging it had happened. True, he was a much better father to Parker than his own dad had been towards him or Jared and was very attentive towards him, but he could still get angry on the inside at a passing thought of his dad and would sometimes take it out on Parker when Parker had nothing to do with the abuse and drunkenness that Booth had experienced as a child.
"You were right." Bones' voice broke the silence.
"Right about what?"
"Right about the fact that my dad wasn't abusive to me or Russ, but in a way he was."
Booth furrowed his brow. "What do you mean?"
She cleared her throat before continuing. "What I mean is that while my dad didn't abuse me in the physical sense, he did abuse us psychologically and mentally to the point that I really can't trust anybody, except maybe you and Ange."
"And Sweets."
"And Sweets." She cracked wry smile. "The point is that I feel afraid in letting people in, afraid that they will misuse my judgment and so I hide behind facts and science, just so I don't have to feel anything. It's why I go on digs for my vacations; so I don't have to face the truth and my thoughts; it's why I have the compulsion to work such long hours."
He sat there thinking, allowing her words to sink in.
"Booth?" Her voice broke the silence between them.
"Yeah?" He looked up and saw her face full of concern.
"Are you okay? She was clearly trying to find a sign that he was okay and he probably wasn't giving it to her.
He cleared his throat. "Yeah, I'm fine."
"Are you sure?" Her voice was filled with concern, clearly knowing that if he wasn't fine, he wasn't going to show it.
He took a deep breath, feeling the tension released from his body. "Yes I am sure."
"Booth…"
Before she could continue on, he leaned over and kissed her, hoping that would silence her continuing questioning as to whether he was fine or not.
After a few moments of kissing, he leaned back on his chair and looked at the pure joy that was etched on her face. "Does that answer your question?"
A delightful smile crossed her face. Clearly his question had been answered.